The implicational fall-rise

Sometimes statements are said with a tone other than a fall - namely, with a rise or a fall-rise. One very typical meaning of a non-fall is non-finality. It shows that the speaker has not reached the end of what he or she wants to say:

The rise or fall-rise thus indicates that the clause, phrase or word that bears it is part of a larger structure. We analyze this tone meaning in sections 2.20-5 (sequences of tones.

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The implicational fall-rise

But what about non-fall tones on statements that are complete in themselves, i.e. independent non-falls? We analyze these tone meanings in the sections that follow now.

The most most typical meaning of fall-rise tone is that the speaker implies something without necessarily putting it into words. We call this tone meaning the implicational fall-rise.

By making a statement with the fall-rise, the speaker typically states one thing but implies something further. Something is left unsaid - perhaps some kind of reservation or implication:

Imply a contrast

The fall-rise implies something further: a contrast between what is expressed and what has not, or not yet, been expressed. In this case it might be:

The speaker has the choice of making the contrast explicit, as in the second version, or leaving it implicit, as in the first. Whether explicit or implicit, the implication is still hinted at by the fall-rise intonation.

The unexpressed implication can usually be formulated in a clause beginning but..., which could make it explicit. The implicational fall-rise can be thought of as the tone that signals a but... to come.

More than one implication may be possible:

Making it explicit we might have: Using a fall-rise but leaving the reservation unexpressed may lead the other speaker to pick up on the implication and ask for the reservation to be spelt out:

The American gun lobby has a slogan:

-- where there is an explicit contrast between guns and people (as the subject of kill). The idea could be expressed more subtly (but still as tendentiously) by saying just:

-- leaving it to the fall-rise to imply the corollary without expressing it.

Imply reservations

A speaker who uses a fall-rise has reservations about what is said. The speaker's statement may be true under some conditions, but not under others. Again, the reservation may or may not be made explicit. In the following examples it is given in parentheses: the words in parentheses might or might not be spoken aloud.

The implicational fall-rise enables us to imply things without actually saying them. It makes it possible to be tactful and politely indirect; it also makes it possible to be hypocritical and devious. In the last example the unspoken implication might be but she has no imagination or but she's not a good teacher or but she doesn't get on with her colleagues or something else uncomplimentary.

There is an English expression (with, by the way, difficult-to-explain tonicity in the second intonation phrase):

This suggests that the words if written might have been unexceptionable; but as spoken their intonation implied something different. They probably had a fall-rise